Salted Caramel Chocolate Cookie Bars

Things I love about baking at my parent’s house: KitchenAid mixer!!! Giant butcher block island. Double oven. Always having every ingredient I can possibly think of. Surround sound kitchen speakers and XM radio. Things I don’t love: I can never, ever, find anything. Once my sister and I left for college Mom and Dad moved into a new house and I’ve yet to figure out the cupboard situation. This results in a lot of talking to myself (which luckily you can’t hear over my music) and a lot of running up and down stairs to check the pantry for hidden ingredients.

Now before I get too far, I have to confess this is not my recipe. The original is found at Eat, Live, Run. Normally I try to think of some way to tweak a recipe to make it easier or more me, but how could I with these?! With these gooey caramely (I think I made that word up) chocolatey bars of goodness. Nope. Sometimes it’s better to leave the original untouched, no need to mess with perfection. Thanks Jenna!

I made these a day or two before Thanksgiving, which may seem odd considering the amount of food we were about to consume. But I wanted another dessert other than pie! I was all chocolated (made another word up) out from the night before with my sister (proof here) so I wanted something not overly sweet. I’m not a huuuuge shortbread fan, but it was perfect here. Followed by the layer of caramel, then dark chocolate, then a sprinkle of sea salt: yes please.

Now there is one thing I would do differently. The original recipe says to simply spray your pan, but I ended up fighting with these bars to get them out. I think a parchment sling would make this much easier. Never made one? It’s so simple! Take two pieces of parchment paper and line the baking pan, pieces perpendicular to each other. Pour your batter in like usual, bake, and let cool. Once you are ready to cut your bars, just lift up the edges of your sling and ta-da! Out they come. Place on cutting board, peel off paper, and cut your bars into perfect squares. Makes for easier clean up too.

Hope you enjoy these… I sure did! I was a little upset I couldn’t take any leftovers on the plane with me, I might just have to make some more!

~Stephanie

Salted Caramel Chocolate Cookie Bars

For Crust

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1/2 c powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 c flour

For Caramel Layer

• 10 oz bag of caramels, unwrapped
• 2 tbsp heavy cream

For Chocolate Layer

• 12 oz dark chocolate chips
• 1 tbsp butter
• flakey sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 325
2. Line 9×13 baking pan with parchment paper to make “sling” (see above)
3. Cream butter, sugar and powdered sugar with electric mixer until fluffy. Add vanilla and salt.
4. Add flour, mixing until soft dough is formed. Press into baking dish. Poke holes in dough using a fork. Bake 35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and let cool.
5. Melt caramel and heavy cream over low heat, stirring constantly. Pour and smooth over shortbread layer.
6. Melt chocolate chips and butter over low heat, stirring constantly. Pour and smooth over caramel layer. Sprinkle with sea salt.
7. Let cool in fridge for 1 hour.
8. Using parchment sling, remove entire block from pan. Invert on cutting board, peel off parchment paper, and cut into bars.